10 minutes of meditation a day will change your life for the better. Check it out for yourself.

When was the last time you thought about nothing? It's time to admit this problem - we cannot control our thoughts. An endless stream of thoughts in our heads follows us wherever we go. From the moment we open our eyes in the morning, all day long and even at night when we sleep, our mental stirrer continues to work. And over time it gets worse - because every day we load our heads with new information more and more, plus we accumulate stress, tension, anxiety and fears.

Scientists have already proven that most of all human diseases are caused by a restless mind. Mental disorders, neuroses, depression, stress, problems with weight, digestion, sleep, skin - all this is nothing more than a consequence of a restless mind.

What do we do to cleanse our mind of the impurities that accumulate there? He clearly can’t cope with this himself...

Washing your face, brushing your teeth, doing exercises in the morning - all this has long become the norm in modern society. This is basic body hygiene.

But what do we do to maintain our mental hygiene? But it requires the same care and care as the body. Every day you need to cleanse your mind so that garbage does not accumulate there. It should become a good habit, just like brushing your teeth in the morning.

Waking up in a bad mood, being angry and irritated all day, sharing your negativity with others is not the norm. But many people live like this, they think it’s normal. It seems to them that mood is something that happens to us, that we cannot influence it, but this is not so.

There are many ways to release stress and tension from the body - go to the gym, sauna, do yoga, swim, go for a massage.

But humanity has not come up with many ways to cleanse the mind.

The best way is meditation.

There are many myths and misconceptions about meditation in our society; few people understand what it really is.

What do you associate with meditation? Usually people come up with pictures of Buddhist monks in orange robes with serious faces sitting cross-legged all day long, smoking incense and stuff like that. Some people think that meditation is a sect, some kind of magic.

In fact, meditation is a very useful, simple and accessible practice for everyone.

1. You don't have to be a Buddhist to meditate.

2. You don't have to quit your job and become a monk to learn meditation.

3. You don't have to sit cross-legged for hours to master meditation. I did it. I celebrated the New Year somewhere in the middle of nowhere in Malaysia - it was the last day of a ten-day meditation course - we got up at 4 am, meditated for 12 hours a day, observed a vow of silence, there was segregation of the sexes, modest vegetarian food and zero entertainment - this those were unforgettable days.

But you don't have to go through such tests to learn how to meditate correctly and benefit from this practice.

Regular meditation practice of ten minutes a day can change your life for the better.

Just think what your life would be like without stress? Without worries and worries? Your health will improve, your sleep will be restored, your relationships will improve. Your productivity will increase because when your mind is not overloaded with thoughts, you can focus it on what really matters to you.

Don't get me wrong, problems will not disappear from your life if you start meditating. But your attitude towards problems will change. An internal space will appear that allows you to look at the situation from different angles and choose the best solution, and not react automatically, as was the case before.

Check it out for yourself!

Especially for beginners, I recorded a practical training course on meditation. With the help of this course, more than 20,000 people have already learned to meditate!

Try it yourself - I I invite you to receive my practical meditation training course for free right now.

Just s fill out the form below and already today you can start your meditation practice.

Every day for one week you will receive a video lesson and practical audio meditation. The entire practice will take approximately 15-20 minutes a day. Everything is built simply and clearly. You will receive only useful information and advice that you can immediately apply in your practice.

Access the hidden potential of meditation and let it transform your life, subscribe!

P.S. The mission of the Mind Detox project is to bring knowledge about meditation and self-development to one million people. Therefore, if you found this post useful, share it with your friends!

How to find peace in our crazy world, full of bustle and noise in all its manifestations? One way is meditation. Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh, in his book Silence, provides mindfulness and everyday meditation techniques that anyone can try. And change your life.

What you need to know about meditation

Meditation does not mean attachment to any religion. This is just one of many techniques (though, it must be said, some of them are quite powerful) that help a modern person “jump out” from the frantic pace of life, relax and concentrate on what is most important. Scholars view the two-and-a-half-thousand-year-old practice of Buddhism as a form of study of the nature of mind and consciousness, rather than as a theistic tradition. Reading early Buddhist texts will convince the clinician that the Buddha was, in fact, a psychologist.

We live on autopilot. And we spend too much time chasing illusory happiness, hoping that it is about to come, but for now we are just waiting. And it’s as if we’re not really living, but just getting ready: studying at university, spending five to seven years on it, then trying to achieve more and more new career heights, waiting for love to meet, children to be born, until we get rich, move to a country with a warm climate and who will figure out what else we need. But is it necessary? It’s easy to understand, but to do it... A little experiment.

Some people live their whole lives on autopilot - for them it is a routine, everyday way of life. Their constant companions are emptiness and dullness. But you can breathe freely - .

Try right now to feel that you are here, that you are breathing and living. To do this, stop the internal dialogue. Well, or at least try to interrupt the flow of thoughts, at least for a while. This is called mindfulness. Meditation helps you get into this state. Practicing mindfulness calms the noise around us. But without awareness, we are distracted by a variety of things: past worries and regrets, unpleasant emotions, and a future that has not yet arrived, worries, fears and uncertainty about the future prevent us from hearing the call of happiness.

But if not today, not now, not at this moment, not at this minute, then when does our real life begin?

How meditation changes your life

First and probably most important, meditation clears the mind without special effort. And when the internal radio (that is, our thoughts) stops broadcasting, joy and awareness come to you naturally. By training, you can achieve this state. If the inner radio "Neverending Reflections" is still playing (and it will be at first, but with regular practice you will make progress), do not let its tornado-like sucking energy carry you away. This happens to many people all the time: instead of living our lives, we allow our thoughts to take us in an unknown direction day after day.

By practicing mindfulness, you will be grounded in the present moment, where life and all its wonders are real and accessible.

Secondly, meditation promotes the development of caring, mindfulness and reflection. Daniel Siegel, MD, is a child psychiatrist and author of The Mindful Brain. A Scientific View of Meditation,” notes that these are very important states of mind for a parent (teacher or doctor) that best contribute to the well-being of the child. And, of course, they also benefit the adult himself, since meditation and mindfulness allow you to give up life “on autopilot.”

Mindfulness is a means of deep awareness of reality that allows you to be conscientious, show kindness and caring - .

And this is the third thing that makes meditation quite attractive. It must be said that in Western culture, interest in meditation has been steadily growing since the 1980s. Around the same time, the practice of transcendental meditation spread, one of whose fans is director David Lynch. Lynch even launched a program in which children around the world learn transcendental meditation in order to be successful in life and, in the words of Paul McCartney, find “a safe haven in a troubled world.” Today this is one of the most popular stress relief techniques; it is even used in schools in America, Latin America and India.

Mindfulness in its broadest sense means waking up and letting go of life on automatic, paying conscious and close attention to the experiences of everyday life.

The benefits of meditation: “...and one more thing”

In addition to what has already been mentioned above, there are some other benefits to meditation - scientifically proven ones. Research shows that certain forms of mindfulness practice improve the ability to regulate emotions, cope with emotional disturbances, improve thought processes, and relieve negative attitudes.

Practicing mindfulness can lead to results such as patience, lack of impulsive reactions, self-compassion and wisdom - .

Also, meditation as a mindfulness practice improves the functioning of the body: it promotes wound healing, strengthens the immune response, increases resistance to stress and improves overall well-being, that is, it is directly related to health. Relationships with other people also improve, probably due to an increased ability to pick up non-verbal emotional signals and better sense the inner world of others.

We begin to be compassionate about other people's experiences and truly empathize with them through our newfound ability to understand their point of view.

Mindfulness allows us to achieve these and many other beneficial changes in our lives. This belief is reinforced by the fact that this form of awareness stimulates activity and growth in the brain regions involved in relationships, emotions, and the physiological response to stress.

Silence inside

We devote 99% of our time to worries. And this is understandable: we want to satisfy everyday needs because we want to feel safe. But many of us are concerned with meeting our needs beyond those that are basic. Nothing threatens our physical safety, we are well-fed, have a roof over our heads and a loving family. And yet we are in a state of constant excitement.

Mindfulness gives you the inner space and peace to look deep within yourself and understand who you really are and what you want from your life - .

Meditation helps calm the noise within ourselves that most of us suffer from. Only “deafening silence” helps you hear what your heart wants to say about who you are and what you want, because noise distracts you day and night. If your head has been full of thoughts, especially negative ones, you might want to think about how to find silence.

I'm Here, or Simple Meditation

The simplest breathing meditation is a good way to saturate our body and mind with awareness. Mindful breathing provides an opportunity to take a healing break. Sit on the floor, cross your legs and try to monitor your breathing. As you take your first inhalation, mentally say to yourself the first line of the phrase below, and as you exhale for the first time, say the second line to yourself. During the next inhalations and exhalations, you can only say keywords.

As I inhale, I am aware that I am inhaling.

As I exhale, I am aware that I am exhaling.

I take a breath, it gets deeper.

I take a breath, it becomes slower.

I take a breath, I become aware of my body.

I breathe out, I calm my body.

I take a breath, I smile.

I breathe out, I free myself.

I take a breath, I exist in the present moment.

I breathe out, I enjoy the present moment.

After just two or three seconds of conscious breathing, we awaken and realize that we are living, that we are breathing. We are here. We exist. The noise inside us disappears. And a deep and expressive space is formed. We gain the ability to answer the call of the heart with the words: “I am here. I am free. I hear you". Give it a try.

All the joys of life are already present here. They are calling to you. If you are able to hear them, then stop the race. You, like all of us, need silence.

Three and a half years ago. Thanks to practice, amazing positive metamorphoses happened to me. Meditation helped me pull myself out of the pool of depression and dissatisfaction, it dispelled the thick veil of delusions that shrouded me, it taught me not to obey my destructive feelings and to be happy.

You can say that meditation has completely changed my life. When I look back and realize how much good meditation has brought into my life, when I read reviews from people on my (and other) website about how the practice has helped them, when I turn to countless examples of wisdom in Eastern philosophy, imbued with the spirit meditation, I regret that most people on the globe do not engage in this simple, but such an effective practice!

Previously, this regret was mixed with bewilderment. I didn’t understand why doesn’t everyone do meditation? Especially those people who suffer, suffer because of the problems that I suffered from!
At first I thought that this was happening because people did not know about meditation or equated it with religion. It seemed to me that as soon as I told about the amazing results of the practice, everyone would immediately start meditating!

Of course, this was a very arrogant belief. Not all people start meditating, even if they agree with all the arguments in favor of meditation. All the same, they still have some kind of hidden uncertainty or secret disagreement. They can listen to all the arguments, say that these arguments are reasonable and logical, but they still will not have inner confidence in practice.

Why is this happening? In this article I will try to answer this question. In the course of communicating with different people about meditation, as well as in the process of responding to reader comments, I realized some of the reasons why people neglect such a useful and deep practice as meditation.

Here I will outline a list of these reasons with detailed comments. I'll try to prove that There are practically no good reasons not to meditate!

If you don't meditate, then perhaps this article will help you overcome some of your doubts about starting to do so.

And if you practice meditation, then here you will find arguments that will help you convince your friends and family that you should practice meditation.

But these are not the only goals of this post! In this article (as in my other articles on the topic of meditation), I want to reveal the meaning and purpose of the practice, let you understand why you need to meditate and why it can help you! These tips will help you get started with regular meditation more easily. Even if you have been meditating for a long time, here you will find information that will help you better understand the practice.

Next, I will give reasons why people refuse to meditate. It is important to understand that in the case of each individual person, most often there is not one, but several causes, presented in different proportions. Let's look at these reasons.

Reason 1 – It helped you, but it won’t help me

The essence of this argument can be expressed in the following statement:

“I believe, Nikolai, that meditation helped you, that thanks to it you got rid of your addictions, psychological problems and found happiness and comfort. But, you see, all people are different, everyone has different problems, and even if they are the same, then the causes of these problems are different. What worked for you won't necessarily help me. Each person needs his own “individual key” to his personal problems.”

My counter argument:

This is a fairly common argument and it can be said to be one of the most complex and “subtle”. That's why I talk about him first.

It is complicated because a person can be convinced in practice of the inconsistency of this reason only when he himself begins to meditate and receives the first effects from meditation. Until that time, this person can understand that it is too early for him to say whether meditation can help him or not, only if this is explained to him very well. This is what I will try to do.

People usually associate meditation with yogic calm and equanimity. Of course, meditation calms the mind. But its meaning is not only this. Meditation clears us of delusions and helps us see things as they are. People are confused about their desires, goals and needs. This is why many of them are unhappy. They do not know what they need to be happy and do not realize the true causes of their problems. They may think they know it, but are disappointed when their efforts do not produce the expected results.

Meditation helps you realize what a person really needs in order to feel happy and fulfilled. And this new understanding may be very different from what they thought before.

What became true for a meditating person could have been a lie for him some time ago and exactly the opposite!

Let me give you an example. (All examples in this article are hypothetical, but some of them are based on actual comments and feedback from people that I have received, as well as my own personal experience). One woman faces constant misfortune. She cannot maintain long-term relationships with romantic partners. It seems to her that the problem is with her partners, who turn out to be less than ideal. And she thinks that the reason for her unhappiness is the lack of true, eternal love!

Such a woman will be skeptical about advice to start meditating to solve these problems. Will meditation help her find the perfect love? Will she point to an impeccable partner? Of course not! Then why does she need meditation? All this talk about improving self-control, about getting rid of delusions, about peace and harmony that can be found through meditation, is an empty phrase for such a person if he is looking for an ideal relationship!

What harmony can there be without ideal love? Maybe meditation helps someone, such a person thinks, but it definitely won’t help me with my problems!

But suppose for certain reasons she began to meditate. After some time, thanks to meditation, she realized that the problem was not with her partners, but with her expectations. There are no ideal people, just as there are no such men who would completely coincide in character with her. And you just need to accept this and work on developing your relationship.

Passion, crazy attraction are temporary feelings, which then change. And the cessation of passion is not at all a sign that the relationship has reached a dead end. And love and men are of course important, but this was not the only reason for the woman’s suffering.

Through meditation, this woman discovered that she had many shortcomings that were poisoning her life. Previously, she did not notice her selfishness, impulsiveness, tendency to blame others for her troubles and lack of self-confidence. She didn't even see a problem with it! But meditation opened her eyes, helped her see the problems of her character and gave her the opportunity to understand that her personality can be changed. She became convinced of this when meditation brought the first changes in her emotions and thinking, when she realized that she began to look at her feelings differently, when she was for the first time able to cope with her constant attacks of anger or fear. “Since I managed to control it once, it means I can learn to do it all the time if I work on myself,” she began to think.

She began to improve and become happier. Meditation got rid of the “garbage” that had accumulated in her head, taught her to relax and manage her emotions!

She did a lot of work on herself and thanks to this, not only her relationships with men became harmonious and long-lasting, but she also got rid of many internal problems that she had never thought about before. As a result, meditation did lead her to (and gave her many more besides these relationships), but not at all in the way that she thought about at the beginning.

Her initial desire to find a man who is perfect in everything and not change her habits would have led her to even greater unhappiness! But meditation dispelled the misconceptions and helped to understand what this woman really needs and what is the cause of all her problems! She needs to change herself and stop looking for an ideal husband that does not exist in nature! It is necessary to develop relationships, clarify problems, and not destroy them at the first conflict and the fact of mutual misunderstanding. And you need not only to look for a worthy partner, but also to correct your own character, which causes problems in relationships and in their search.

Second example. Another woman was very worried because her husband left her. Will meditation help bring it back? No! But thanks to meditation, she can understand that she needs to move on with her life and not dwell on the past. Practice will help her with the consequences of mental trauma.

Third example. One man changed one job after another. He thought that he would not be happy until he found the perfect career. What kind of meditation can we talk about when you need to think about a career and making money?

But if such a person starts meditating, he will understand that there are a lot of other interesting things in life and there is no need to worry so much about a career. Meditation will give him a chance to understand that until he finds , he will not be able to enjoy any work, since his inner dissatisfaction will continue to project itself onto the outer world.

Fourth example. One man could not cope with his addictions: he drank beer every day and was a heavy smoker. He feels that he needs to focus on fighting his addictions (which he has been trying unsuccessfully for many years) rather than engaging in self-improvement and self-discovery through meditation. He finds it silly to think that meditation will cure his addictions.

But he started practicing anyway. He did not immediately give up his bad habits, but he became calmer and more balanced. He, like the woman from the first example, realized his internal problems, which provoked him to seek peace in alcohol and resort to smoking. Dissatisfaction with life, fears, complexes and nervousness, which turned bad habits into a way of everyday salvation, faded into the background. A person’s reasons for drinking and smoking have simply disappeared!

In this case, little remains to be done. Just quit and endure the withdrawal symptoms. It is unlikely that this man will want to return to these addictions if he eliminates the causes of their occurrence. In addition, meditation gives a feeling of peace, inner comfort and happiness. Why drink or eat something when it’s already good? The last argument is the main reason why I don’t drink alcohol or other drugs at all.

Meditation will not necessarily lead every person to exactly the same conclusions and results that you see in these examples. But it will allow people to dispel the veil of their illusions and understand what they really need. Many individuals are constantly under the influence of emotions and fears. Their brain is full of thoughts, experiences, suppressed feelings.

Meditation helps you deal with all these thoughts and feelings, clear your head of “garbage” and look at the world and yourself soberly.

Some Buddhist teachers said that in order to see the world as it is, you need to bring the mind to a state of peace. And then it will accurately reflect the world, like the smooth surface of a wave reflecting the surrounding landscape.

And a restless mind, shrouded in delusion, is like a foaming, seething and rapidly changing surface of water. The reflection in it will never be a copy of the surrounding landscape.

And this applies not only to the perception of the outside world, but also to the perception of oneself. You cannot understand yourself while your mind is shrouded in passions, negative thoughts and strong attachments.

Many people have a hard time initially appreciating what meditation can actually bring. It can completely change your life and your views, so that you will look at the world, at your goals and desires, completely differently than you look at it now.

It will not give instant satisfaction to your passions, but it will help you look at these passions differently. Maybe the cause of your troubles is your uncontrollable desires, and not the fact that you cannot satisfy them all?

Meditation takes your mind to a completely different level and sometimes it is difficult to understand how the mind will work on this level while you are in the state of mind you are in now, without meditation.

Therefore, you should not extend your current expectations and doubts to the effect of meditation that can await you in the future. There is only one way to understand this effect and understand how much meditation can help you. This opportunity is meditation. Without practicing it, it is very difficult to talk about it and appreciate how it can affect you while in a state of “polluted mind”.

You may ask, what prompted me to practice meditation when I, perhaps, could not even imagine its effect? In fact, I simply believed that it could relieve my symptoms and panic attacks. But this does not mean that I thought that I would look at things completely differently after meditation.

I thought that the cause of my ailments was an imbalance in the chemical balance in the brain. And he decided that meditation could bring him back to normal. Why not try it, I thought. I treated meditation as a natural antidepressant. I thought that my mood would lift naturally thanks to her, and I would suffer less.

I never even imagined that my life could be turned upside down, that my views on things would be reevaluated.

Through practice, I realized that I have many problems and shortcomings, and these problems are the causes of my depression. It's not just a matter of chemical balance. Depression doesn't just happen. The problem is my personality traits, emotionality, laziness, self-pity, poor health, bad habits, poor self-control, etc. I didn't perceive these shortcomings as shortcomings before. I didn't think much about them at all. Or he blamed the responsibility for them on someone else.

I realized that some of these problems can be solved through meditation and self-improvement. To get rid of depression, I don’t need to deal exclusively with the problem of “wrong balance”, I need to improve my personality, get rid of other problems that became the real causes of my depression!

And I not only got rid of psychological illnesses, but also developed many of my qualities, found the purpose of life and a sense of the value of this life.

Just like many people, I didn’t understand what meditation actually did until I first felt the effects of it. I just hoped that she would stabilize my emotional state. If someone had told me then that practice would help me not only improve my chemical balance, but change my character, which is the prerequisite for all my troubles, I would not have understood such an argument. After all, it seemed to me that my personality was something unchangeable, and I didn’t see many of my problems. I thought of myself as a developed and sober-minded person who had no serious problems other than his depression.

Therefore, I perfectly understand those people who do not think at all about meditation as an effective tool for correcting their own character, since I myself have not thought about the practice in such a context.

Instead of arguing about whether meditation will help you or not - meditate! And only then will you be able to find out. Practice can bring the most unpredictable (in a good way) and amazing results that you couldn’t even imagine!

A little more about delusions of the mind...

Misconceptions of the mind form a false belief in the uniqueness and complexity of one’s own problems. People think that meditation is some kind of practice that helps only in special cases, and for their particular problem they also need something special and unique, something that will suit only them.

I encounter the results of such confidence almost every week when I read comments on an article.

I'm not saying that many people ask for advice without reading the article. Some of them probably read it and didn’t miss the part in which I talk about how meditation can greatly help in the fight against panic attacks.

But, they think that meditation will not suit them. So they write me long comments detailing the details of their lives. For example: “in 2004, my husband left me and the attacks began... in 2005 - 2007 I took Prozac, but then the attacks returned... I am very impressionable... I tried a lot of things to get rid of it... the last three months the attacks did not recur... but yesterday they returned... ”(this is a very short example; in reality, such comments can be much longer).

And nothing about meditation!

And such a comment ends with a standard question: “Please advise what should I do?” Such questions have always puzzled me. After all, I wrote so thoroughly and in detail in the article about the benefits of meditation, but the person seems to have read it, but still asks what to do!

I even perceived it as a sign of disrespect for me as an author. But recently I realized that it is natural for many people to overestimate the uniqueness of their problems.

They blame people, circumstances, events for their problems. And they feel that different life circumstances that they believe are causing their problems require different approaches. But the mind, shrouded in fears, is not always able to realize the true causes of these problems. It's not just about events and people, but about our perception of these things, our personal experiences that these things cause. The cause of our troubles is often within us, even if we don't realize it.

Often our troubles are rooted in the inability to control emotions, in painful experiences, sensitivity to stress, internal tension, poor nervous health, sick character, and not in the cunning vicissitudes of our life and our childhood. The circumstances are different, but the character traits that cause all sorts of mental illnesses are similar in different people. And meditation helps to cope with these ailments.

Meditation helps you understand these reasons and begin to adjust your inner world, work with fears, experiences and complexes, change your thinking, perception of the world around you and your outlook on things (for example, stop blaming circumstances for everything, stop being afraid of difficulties, stop criticizing people, etc. ).

That is why meditation is a universal key that fits any lock. It does not provide instant solutions to problems. But it allows you to clear your mind of delusions, find these problems and their solutions. It improves the functioning of the nervous system and the entire body as a whole. It brings peace and tranquility. This state is a universal aid for self-analysis and work on oneself. Every person needs such a state!

That is why this practice is suitable for almost everyone, regardless of the personal characteristics of each person or the events of their life.

And to numerous long questions asking for help with advice, I answer, meditate! This will help you realize the true causes of your problems and discover a way that will help you eliminate them. This method may be meditation itself, or perhaps something else.

Most people with nervous diseases and emotional problems will benefit from advice to spend more time outdoors, relax more, learn to manage stress, and no matter what exactly their problems are! The same can be said about meditation.

Many people reading this site must perceive my advice to meditate as a priest’s answer to a long confession: “pray and everything will be fine!” I'm not trying to ignore your problem or get rid of you. I hope I have clarified this point at this point in this article.

Meditate! I believe meditation can help everyone! And you can’t even imagine what amazing and good metamorphoses await you!

Reason 2 - I don't have time to meditate

Argument:

I have so little time and so many things to do, I would like to do meditation, but I don’t have time.

My counter argument:

If you don’t have time to meditate, then you are giving this time to things that you value more than the potential effect of meditation, for example, work, your own affairs, sleep, watching TV, the Internet, etc.

Many of the things that you do in life and that you consider important are designed only to satisfy your desires and give you the desired emotional state. In other words, you work hard not to earn money, but to enjoy the money or simply because you like to work hard.

All your actions are aimed at achieving hypothetical happiness or satisfaction, joyful impressions for yourself and for your loved ones. And money, acquaintances, travel are means that serve this purpose.

But meditation can give a person real happiness and freedom! It can free you from emotions and fear, give you peace and confidence in your own abilities. It will transform your life, change it for the better!

And for this you don’t need to go to the Himalayan caves and meditate all day long. Just 40 minutes of practice a day is enough! Is that really that much? If you consider the potential effect of just forty minutes spent a day, then this is negligible! You spend 40 hours a week on work! But having money and all sorts of blessings will never bring you the same happiness that meditation will bring you!

It is clear that the issue of survival is much more important than the issue of happiness. You need to work to eat. But your personal schedule isn’t filled only with those things that are designed to provide the most basic needs of your life?

So spend 40 minutes a day meditating. Those 40 minutes are worth sacrificing overtime, entertainment, internet, video games, and even sleep! You spend this time on yourself, and not on serving the interests of other people.

Don't worry, meditation will compensate you for lost sleep! If you meditate regularly, your need for sleep decreases. During meditation, you relax, restore the functioning of your nervous system, and get rid of stress. Meditation has the functions of rest and sleep. It helps clear your mind of accumulated thoughts and worries. When else can you get rid of suppressed experiences, if not during meditation?

In the modern world it is difficult to find a person who has not heard of meditation. But it can be equally difficult to find someone who could explain what meditation is.

People who do not practice it do not know what meditation can reveal in them and what meditation gives. But the paradox is that even people who practice have difficulty describing what this state is.

After all, meditation is beyond words and definitions - it is a state when the mind is silent, but we describe what is happening with the help of the mind.

And even after “coming out” of meditation - which masters practically do not do even during ordinary life and communication - it is difficult to explain what meditation is - simply because it is broader than meager logical explanations.

What happens?

No one is able to explain what meditation is, it can only be practiced to be felt, but not described? Not certainly in that way.

In the history of mankind there are people who have been on both sides of the mind and talked about the connection of both worlds - the spiritual and the material.

Who are they? Masters of meditation, spiritual teachers, to whom we will turn for clarification.

Meditation speaks silently, it reveals that spirit and matter are one, quantity and quality are one, the permanent and the temporary are one.

Meditation reveals that 70 or 80 years of life from birth to death is not just existence, but Eternity. After birth, life lives in the body, and after death - in the spirit.

Meditation:

helps to discover your true “I”;

leads to conscious identification with the Higher Self;

helps to leave limitations and addictions in the past;

leads to changes on the internal planes of consciousness;

brings to the surface riches that were previously stored in a deeply hidden part of our being;

teaches you to strive for something and, at the same time, achieve it.

Meditation leads the practitioner upward - to the Highest, to the divine and at the same time inward - into the depths of oneself, one's own being.

Both directions lead to God.

When enough has been covered, they merge into one path: by knowing ourselves, we know the world, and by knowing the world, we know ourselves, because there is no depth without height, just as there is no height without depth.

And everything is part of a single whole - Infinite Reality, Absolute Reality, Divine Reality.

But in order to understand that everything in the world is one, you need to go beyond the mind and enter the sphere of your spiritual heart, because it is what connects us with everything in the world.

The heart is limitless in any direction, so within it there is both the deepest depth and the highest height.

The secret of meditation is conscious and constant unity with God, with the Divine within us and with all that exists.

And the more we practice meditation, the longer we are able to feel the presence of God in our lives, until this feeling becomes permanent and inseparable from us.

Meditation teaches us to live moment to moment, and the more we meditate, the more present we are in the here and now.

We begin to live in the Eternal Now, and our heart leads us to understand that every moment of life is Eternity.

Worry and vanity disappear, and our human “I”, our personality merges with the Higher “I” - we come to know our true nature, and our life becomes happier and more fulfilling.

Osho: Meditation is centering, it is wholeness

Osho calls meditation the greatest adventure of which the human mind is capable.

To meditate means to simply be, without generating anything - neither actions, nor thoughts, nor emotions. You simply are, and this is pure delight.

Where does the excitement of meditation come from? The master claims that it comes from nowhere. Or - from everywhere! Because existence is made of joy.

And the inner essence of a person is the sky itself, through which clouds float, stars are born and die, but no matter what happens in the inner sky, it is unchangeable, unblemished and eternal.

The sky within a person is a witness, and entering the inner sky and becoming an observer is the goal of meditation.

Gradually, the “clouds” - thoughts, desires, emotions, memories, ideas will disappear and only the essence itself will remain - the meditator will completely turn into an observer, into a witness, and will no longer identify with himself anything that is not actually him.

Osho believes that meditation cannot be learned, but it can be developed.

Meditation is growth that arises from being itself. Meditation is not something that is learned, it is already in everyone!

To learn meditation, you need to go through change, through transformation.

Meditation is like love. Meditation is wholeness, centering. This is not adding something to a person, it is extracting truth from his nature.

When you understand, feel, after making countless attempts, what meditation is, you “find” a state when your essence, your nature, simply remains in being, gradually you will be able to stretch your meditation, even for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week !

This requires awareness. And then you will be able to perform any simple action while remaining meditative: washing the dishes, sweeping the floor, taking a shower.

…meditation is not against action. It doesn't require you to run for your life. It only teaches a new way of life: you become the center of the cyclone.

When meditation appears in your life, life does not stop, does not freeze, on the contrary, it becomes more alive, clear, bright, joyful and creative.

During meditation, the consciousness is cleared of debris, superficial and unnecessary thoughts, desires, beliefs, empty worries, like a mirror from which a thick layer of dust is erased.

With the advent of meditation in your life, you will be able to feel and sense everything that is happening more fully, but at the same time you will remain in the state of an observer: as if you were standing on a hill and observing events and your reactions to them from the outside.

At the same time, you can operate on any level, do what is necessary for life and communication, but at the same time remain centered, holistic, divinely calm and accepting of yourself and what is happening.

You meditate when you shift your attention from the outer world to the inner world. You meditate every time you do something with awareness.

If you are alert and observant, if you are aware of what is happening, even listening to the noise of your own mind, you are meditating!

This is what makes up the awareness that leads to meditation:

Attentive and vigilant attitude towards your body

A person gradually learns to pay attention to his every movement, every gesture. Over time, restless, fussy movements disappear, the body becomes more harmonious and relaxed.

A deep calm settles in him. The conscious body knows pleasure.

Awareness of your thoughts

Once you become aware of your thoughts, you will discover the mind chattering incessantly inside you.

Gradually, thanks to your attention and increasing awareness, your thoughts will no longer be chaotic, they will become more coherent, smooth, and harmonious.

You will begin to notice stretches of thoughtlessness between the ideas that excite you and the responsibilities that used to constantly swirl in your head.

When your thoughts become calm, you will notice consistency between your body and mind - now they will work together, in a single rhythm, and not jump in different directions, as was before. The conscious mind experiences happiness.

A little more awareness, and your feelings, emotions and moods will become subject to you.

No, you don’t need to suppress them - just notice them and manifest them or let them go.

A little training - and you will become an observer of your feelings, you will be able to manage them, and not be driven and subject to momentary mood changes or “explosive” emotions.

A conscious heart radiates joy.

Ultimate awareness - awareness of your awareness

The fourth stage of awareness comes as a gift, as a gift for working on the previous ones.

By merging awareness of the body, thoughts, as well as feelings, emotions and moods, one becomes aware of one's awareness. In this state a person experiences bliss.

Now you are observing yourself - the observer.

Unconditional love and bliss will become the atmosphere surrounding you. It will not be directed at anyone in particular, love will become your fragrance, you yourself will become love.